I stood at the window

http://tiny.cc/yvswcw

I stood at the window looking out
Yet not seeing -
Have you ever done that?
Look but not registering what you're seeing
My mind elsewhere
I sighed, a long, long sigh
Thoughts flying around my head
All mixed together
Bringing a sense of unease
Yet not knowing why

(C) Caf Mowbray 2011
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It's amazing what I find when I'm cleaning my bedroom - getting right under the bed this time. A piece of paper with this written on it. I think I wrote it when Red:Writing started yet got cold feet to go and share. Anyone remember how long ago that was?

Choices

http://tiny.cc/m2mmbw

Hands
Two hands
My hands
Shackled together
I thought I was free
How wrong could I be?
Feet
Two feet
My feet
Walking along
Which direction to take?
What decision would I make?
I thought I had choices
Any way I could choose
Little did I realise
I only had two
One: to go my way, do what I wanted, how I wanted, when I wanted
Two: to follow You
Seeing yet not seeing
Knowing yet not knowing
Believe or not believe
Not believing is a choice
How do you want to spend eternity?
You choose...
(c) Cathy Mowbray 2011
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

What love



tiny.cc/908bf



I give only one of my sins
and leave it at the cross
One of many I could chose from
If we all did that imagine the pain and anguish
at the cross
on the cross

Yet, Jesus Christ didn't only take one of my sins
He took all my sin
He took all mankind's sins

I cannot imagine the pain and anguish
the suffering He felt that day
He knew what He must endure
and the reason He must endure

From the beginning of time
He knew what was to come
He saw the bigger picture

He felt the betrayal
He felt every lash from the whip
He felt every fist, every foot beating Him
He felt every thorn thrust upon His head
He felt the weight of the cross
as He carried it to Golgotha
He felt every time the three stakes were hit
To pierce His wrists, His feet

Each bang on the stakes
We hit them
With our sin
because of our sin
He felt His Heavenly Father's wrath

Obedient to death
God's Will to be done
What love He had-He has for us
To endure that for us
For me

(c) Caf Mowbs 2010

How long has it been?

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I cannot believe I've been in Belfast for 10 months. The time has flown by. So what have I been up to? Well during that time quite a bit – where to start?...

We had our regional weekend away during August Bank Holiday weekend in a field in somewhere in Yorkshire – believe nearest place was Yarm. What an amazing time away together. There were 20 of us (including 4 children). It was so powerful and such a great time strategically. As a church plant the following week we were embarking on a new strategy to build community and moving Citygroup (our mid-week meeting) to a new venue. This was a valuable time away. There were many healings, physically and spiritually in our group, let alone the rest of the people attending.


“Take the ring off. It is not the wedding ring I have given you. It is an unhealthy link to your past and needs to be broken. Take it off”

My mind was racing. I knew I had to be obedient but on the other hand could I cope without it? (silly question!). I worshipped some more, then took it off. A few days after returning from North I felt I had to go a step further. I didn't want to lose the ring so I had put it into my purse – meaning most of the time it was near me. It's now in a safe place with the rest of my jewellery.

It has been years since I've been camping – I did a night in a trailer tent a few years ago but not much since then. It was absolutely freezing. This year I'm definitely bringing my thermals. It's the nights. I couldn't sleep because I was so cold – I've never had to put more clothes on to go to bed before – until now running out of oil, but that's another story!

I haven't had a weekend filled with so much laughter and tears. By the end of it I was relieved as my stomach muscles were hurting so much. But what a release there was. We all felt touched and ready for Redeemers next step.

It was such a special time away with Redeemer but also being able to spend some more time with Coleraine church and Leeds.

I was bursting with words when I came back from North full of praise and wonder at God's Glory and power. Regeneration, rejuvenation, reconciliation, redemption for the city of Belfast and the nation of Ireland.

Can you feel it rising? The power and the Glory of our Lord?
God is a loving and living God
The streets of Belfast will be filled with Your people
Living in Your fullness once more
Re-generation, re-juvenation, re-conciliation, re-demption
This city will tremble at the sound of Your name
Your church will stand firm forevermore
Your wonder and Glory will be known throughout the land
No words can declare how great You are.

I have never experienced God with such intensity and time span. I felt the spirit on me the whole weekend. I felt God released me from quite alot of things that weekend and He also revealed how some of my behaviours have a bad affect on me. One example, although may seem quite an insignificant thing has brought me such freedom. For quite a while I wore a family members wedding ring on my thumb. I cannot remember who's it was but it was a link to all the departed members. When I was stressed or concerned I used to hold on to my thumb and play with my ring, not sure if you've ever seen me doing that? I didn't realise I was doing that during one of the worship times, didn't really take too much notice. Looking back in my journal it was an emotional time of worship – sometimes I don't know if it's a happy emotion or releasing something! Then God spoke to me in such a clear way – not in a booming voice like you see in Hollywood films but I knew it was Him.

Clearer Head

http://tiny.cc/djtwcw

Sunday 26th July 2009


On the way to meet up with the Dublin Church plant I had to write down some words which were crowding my head. I've had a sense of something developing over the last couple of days but haven't had the chance to put pen to paper. In the back of the car I started scribbling – not the best I've written, it's been over a year.

The Creator, our God, has call you to be His child
Nothing you can do to earn His love
Nothing you can do to stop Him loving you
Your hope is in Him alone because of His sacrifice,
giving His life so you can live.

It was good to meet up with people from the church plant. Some of them are from Chelmsford, Essex – my old stomping ground. I'm looking forward to see how our friendships develop.